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Catholic Vietnam: Growing Despite Communist Oppression
Catholic World Report ^ | 12/5/16 | CWR Staff

Posted on 12/05/2016 5:25:10 PM PST by marshmallow

While the situation for Vietnamese Catholics has improved in recent decades, threats of violence, coercion, and harassment still exist.

Late last month, the president of Vietnam, Tran Dai Quang, met with Pope Francis for a private audience at the Vatican. Though the meeting was described by the Holy See Press Office as “cordial,” relations between Rome and Vietnam have been bumpy for the last several decades. One of five remaining Communist nations, Vietnam has been ranked as the world’s 20th most oppressive country for Christians by the non-profit Open Doors USA. And yet the nation’s Catholic population—which has been listed at roughly seven million—continues to grow.

Though Portuguese Catholic missionaries came to Vietnam in the early 1500s, it was French Jesuits in the following century who had the first significant success in winning converts and establishing a Church presence.

When Vietnam split in 1954, many thousands of Catholics headed from Communist North Vietnam into South Vietnam. When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the two sections reunified under a Communist government.

The Church persevered, though, and there now are 26 dioceses and three archdioceses, along with more than 2,600 priests and 2,200 parishes, according to catholic-hierarchy.org.

Most would agree that Vietnam is not as repressive as it was in 1975. That said, “Strong authoritarian rule [tolerates] no dissent, especially not from ethnic or religious minorities… As a result, human rights violations continue to accrue,” reports the Christian persecution watchdog group Voice of the Martyrs.

In 2014 it was reported that the Vietnamese government has actively tried to create dissension among Christians. In one case, the government organized a fake Catholic organization to influence the Church from within. There also have been incidences of Vietnamese Catholics being physically coerced into renouncing their faith.

(Excerpt) Read more at catholicworldreport.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 12/05/2016 5:25:10 PM PST by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow

Good. Let’s pray they don’t support pinching off more islamic filth and charities that promote illegals of evil.


2 posted on 12/05/2016 5:29:56 PM PST by soycd
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To: marshmallow
...it was French Jesuits in the following century who had the first significant success in winning converts and establishing a Church presence.

Isn't "winning converts" the sin of "proselytism", per the Francis?

3 posted on 12/05/2016 5:37:02 PM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

The date of that was 400 BF - Before Francis.


4 posted on 12/05/2016 5:58:18 PM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: ebb tide; marshmallow

I don’t think Pope Francis was “dissing” evangelization. A distinction needs to be drawn between proselytization and evangelization.

See
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/did-pope-francis-just-say-that-evangelization-is-nonsense-8-things-to-know


5 posted on 12/05/2016 5:59:55 PM PST by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

I don’t read Cujo Akin.

He’s nuttier than a rabid dog.


6 posted on 12/05/2016 6:08:54 PM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: marshmallow

Devout people, I can’t help but relate,

This is about 8 years ago, a Vietnamese teen got shot in a case of mistaken identity in a case of Gang Violence, (not cops). Well, everyone prayed for him and he did recover. I know little more than that. I’ve been to a Vietnamese Mass back in the “good old days”, no, I won’t make an abbrev. of that one.


7 posted on 12/05/2016 6:10:21 PM PST by BeadCounter ( Drain The Swamp!)
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To: marshmallow

I wonder what the US rank is. I bet it’s moving up.


8 posted on 12/05/2016 6:20:09 PM PST by beethovenfan (I always try to maximize my carbon footprint.)
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To: marshmallow
In one case, the government organized a fake Catholic organization to influence the Church from within.

Here's a Wikileaks email chain about libtards scheming a "Catholic Spring" in America:

We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this.

https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/16557

9 posted on 12/05/2016 6:22:20 PM PST by Reeses (A journey of a thousand miles begins with a government pat down.)
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To: BeadCounter

I attended a Vietnamese mass in Toronto. They put regular Canadian Catholics to shame with their devotion. They dress nicely, sing enthusiastically, pray fervently and then stay around for an hour after Mass to socialize. I get weary of the pew potatoes who show up to Mass late, keep their coats on, and then head for the doors while walking back from Communion. We have grown soft and complacent in our Daith.


10 posted on 12/05/2016 6:23:12 PM PST by littleharbour
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To: soycd

The whole country is “Islamophobic.” They have a native Moslem population but they are the Cham remnants and their Islam is a thin overlay over the old pagan belief in spirits and such. The Vietnamese, government and Catholic and Buddhist and other do not want to import the Moslem problems they see in Thailand and Burma.People from Moslem countries can have a hard time getting visas.


11 posted on 12/05/2016 6:29:08 PM PST by ThanhPhero
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To: marshmallow
Though Portuguese Catholic missionaries came to Vietnam in the early 1500s, it was French Jesuits in the following century who had the first significant success in winning converts and establishing a Church presence.

Coincidentally, today Vietnam, Laos, and Eastern Thailand are home to many curvy light skinned Asian women. An extreme example:

Vietnamese Elly Tran Ha

12 posted on 12/05/2016 6:39:53 PM PST by Reeses (A journey of a thousand miles begins with a government pat down.)
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To: marshmallow
The Diems, overthrown by Kennedy in the early 60's, were a Catholic family.
13 posted on 12/05/2016 7:06:13 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: marshmallow

I’ve travelled to Vietnam many times for work - mainly in the south

one sees a lot of Churches in the South. I stayed in hotel next to a Catholic Church last year at the start of Advent. I was awakened at 5 AM by about 1000 arriving people on their typical motorbikes and scooters, and a brass band playing at a special mass they were holding. It was so well-attended, the church had folding chairs outside for the overflow crowd.


14 posted on 12/05/2016 7:46:21 PM PST by PGR88
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To: hinckley buzzard
The Diems, overthrown by Kennedy in the early 60's, were a Catholic family.

After which, Ho Chi Minh supposedly told his aides

I can scarcely believe the Americans would be so stupid.

The Communists believed Diem to be the most formidable enemy and most respectable leader the South had. It was VC agitation and propaganda which caused the supposed "Buddhist unrest" and social disquiet which falsely convinced Kennedy and Henry Cabot Lodge that Diem was failing.

15 posted on 12/05/2016 8:04:13 PM PST by PGR88
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To: littleharbour

My 8 yr old son’s best buddy is Vietnamese. They go to Catholic school together although the family are Buddhist. The parents are immigrants. I am very honored that they trust us as much as they do. They work all the time so we end up bringing him home from school a lot. They have our son over for a sleepover and spoil him all weekend sometimes. Very generous people.

I haven’t yet told them that I spent several years exploring Buddhism before Jesus brought me home. Kind of a complicated conversation with the bit of a language barrier we have. ;)


16 posted on 12/05/2016 10:20:49 PM PST by To Hell With Poverty (I support a woman's right to lose.)
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To: ebb tide

What does it mean, really, when Jesuits found churches in a region? Is it a characteristic, or a unique feature in Jesuit evangelization, as opposed to some other Order bringing the faith?

I am unfamiliar and ignorant of the Jesuits. Or, do you know of a primer on the Order that is commendable?


17 posted on 12/06/2016 5:33:46 AM PST by RitaOK (Viva Christo Rey! Public Education is the farm team for more Marxists coming,... infinitum.)
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To: Reeses
those two events are not inter-related. The light skinned South-East asians have been there for centuries -- the Tai-Kadai (Thai and Laotian) and Mon-Khmer (Vietnamese and Cambodian) peoples are naturally lighter than the Austronesian peoples.

Though not as light skinned as Japanese

18 posted on 12/07/2016 5:28:26 AM PST by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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